C.K. Nickell C.K. Nickell

I am an author, poet and storyteller. My writing is influenced by my family history, travels around the world, and the amazing writing of others, including Edgar Allan Poe, Robert ​Burns and Robert Louis Stevenson. I have several published poems and short stories ​and wrote for five years about local history for an online site.

Sometimes the days are long, and you feel all hope is lost.
You push yourself to get ahead, no matter what it might cost.
Others talk you down, you fall in line, losing sight of your dreams.
You realize one day that their world is not as great as it seems.
It’s never too late to follow your heart, to go your own way.
The sun may go down, but it rises again, bringing with it a brand new day.

The mighty storm blew in, turning day into night.
The house shook as the wind raged, showing off its might.
I ran as the alarm screamed, my heart filled with dread.
I knew my time was up when the funnel appeared overhead.
Then a single ray of light shone through the eye of the storm.
Calming the winds even as the funnel continued to form.
I ran again, finding shelter, and somehow I survived.
In the aftermath, I gave prayers of thanks, as I shook and cried.

We played on the beach all day, building castles in the sand.
We built a mighty kingdom in a majestic faraway land.
The prince rescued the princess, and the celebration was grand.
The king merrily approved when he knelt and asked for her hand.
Then came the most spectacular wedding ever planned.
Then the tide came in and washed away our castles in the sand.